


Winter Talks

by AraWrites



Series: Team Fortress 2 (Gifts/Trades) [1]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Alternate Character Interpretation, Bilingual Character(s), Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, I swear to god this is probably the sweetest fluff I have ever written, M/M, Maskless Pyro, Not Canon Compliant, OC, Short & Sweet, as in doesn't follow the lore established by the comics, set after they have worked with RED
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 13:52:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13366074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AraWrites/pseuds/AraWrites
Summary: During a quiet winter night Pyro asks Medic to teach him a little German.





	Winter Talks

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an art/fanfic trade with axis-intercept over at [Tumblr](https://axis-intercept.tumblr.com/).  
> They wished for some sweet, domestic Pyro/Medic fluff after the two have left RED.
> 
> Pyro, and his description, is based on axis-interception's [headcanon of him](https://axis-intercept.deviantart.com/art/Pyro-Headcanon-ref-sheet-13-09-2017-704211614).

Pyro slowly opened his eyes.  
He was still in the living room, covered with a blanket up to his chin while lying on the sofa. A fire was burning in the nearby chimney, engulfing the whole room with its soft glow. Pyro quietly watched the fire dance for a while, watched how little sparks rose up in the air only to disappear again and be replaced by new ones.

Pyro stretched his legs a little and nestled his head deeper into the warm curve of Medic’s lap. After a walk through the snow, one Pyro hadn’t done entirely voluntarily but Medic had insisted on, the two of them had cuddled up together in their living room.

Medic loved the winter.  
He loved the clean air, the peacefulness, how everything for once seemed to come to a halt in this always so restless world. It was also the time Medic would become a little melancholic, would play violin for hours or bury himself in his books. It never had snowed in the Badlands, or even rained, but as soon as they had experienced their first winter together it became evident that it was a difficult time for Medic. Pyro assumed it was because he missed Germany.

Medic never had talked about his past and Pyro never had asked either. Someone who worked for RED usually did so because they wanted to leave behind whatever they had done, whoever they had been before. What Medic had done before they had met didn’t matter to Pyro anyway, all that mattered to him was the man he was now. The man who had shown no fear towards him, had always approached him with kindness and shown a great amount of patience for him. Who was gentle, caring, even if at times their differences had made it difficult for them.

Once though Medic had told Pyro stories about German Christmas traditions, had described a “Weihnachtsmarkt” to him with all its details while they had decorated their first tree together. Pyro still vividly remembered Medic’s expression, the glint in his eyes – a kind of youthfulness Pyro never before had seen in Medic’s face. For a moment Medic had returned back to the days of his childhood. Soon his excitement had vanished again though, had been replaced by thoughtfulness and crushing silence. Pyro still felt a painful sting in his heart whenever he thought back to this day.

Pyro rolled onto his back and looked up to Medic now. While he had warmed himself up and taken a nap Medic had been busy reading. Pyro mustered the book above him, only the words “Venedig” and “Mann” were somewhat familiar to him, when Medic suddenly lifted it up a little and looked down to him.

“Back from the dead?”, Medic said with a smile and Pyro nodded.  
Pyro slowly sat up, the blanket still wrapped around his shoulders, and let out a hearty yawn. His hair was a mess, even more than usual, and Medic reached out to him to tame it a little. His fingers ran through the long strands on top, followed the curve of Pyro’s head down to his neck and rested there for a moment. Medic pulled him close and lightly placed a kiss on the always so unruly mane.

“I hope you aren’t freezing anymore?”, Medic said while he leaned back again.  
The book was now lying on his lap and he folded his hands on top of it.  
“I’m fine…what are you reading?”, Pyro replied.  
He pointed at the book and Medic looked down at its faded cover.  
“It’s a book by Thomas Mann, called “Der Tod in Venedig”. Death in Venice. It’s about an old author who suffers from writer’s block and decides to travel a bit to get back into it. In Venice he sees a young boy and he falls in love with him, down to a point he gets absolutely obsessed. He dies at the end, without ever having spoken to the boy.”  
He looked up again and couldn’t resist laughing a little when he saw Pyro’s raised eyebrows.  
“I know, the plot sounds a bit odd, but it’s very well written.”

Medic usually read in German, it was the only way for him to still interact with his mother tongue. Everything else in their household was in English and except for some odd words here and there he avoided speaking it in front of Pyro too. Pyro was most of the time grateful for it but he knew that Medic missed someone to talk with in a language that was so much more familiar and intimate to him than English could ever be.

Pyro rubbed the back of his neck before he scooted a little closer to Medic.  
“There’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now, you know…”, he said while he watched Medic’s thumb trace along the worn down edges of his book.  
“Maybe you could teach me a little German? I mean, just a few phrases and words, doubt I could actually speak it someday but…”, Pyro went on.  
He got more nervous the longer he talked, the longer Medic quietly looked back at him with his blue eyes.  
“It’s just…I think…I think it would make you happy. I want to make you happy.”

“Ach, mein Schatz…”, Medic muttered before he wrapped an arm around Pyro’s shoulders and pressed him against his chest.  
He placed a kiss on Pyro’s forehead and hugged him for a moment.  
“That’s a yes?”, Pyro’s muffled voice came from below.  
Medic let go of him again and nodded. He put down his book on a nearby table and now completely turned to Pyro.

“I’m afraid German isn’t easy to learn, but let’s just start with something fun. Is there any phrase or word you want me to translate for you or you want to learn?”  
Pyro crossed his arms for a moment and leaned his head to the side. He tried to dig up some of the things Medic often muttered to himself, tried to remember whatever Medic had said to him he hadn’t understood in the past. He decided to go with something Medic regularly said but Pyro never had bothered to question.  
“You call me something all the time, you just did it again too. Sch…sch-something. And the other one, with L? What does that mean? I always thought it’s a kind of nickname for me.”  
He was surprised when Medic’s expression suddenly got soft, his eyes tender. Medic cleared his throat and smiled a little.  
“It’s not a nickname, it’s a term of endearment. ‘Mein Schatz’ literally translates to 'my treasure’. 'Liebling’, hmm, I think 'dearest’ works best. Both are common terms you would use like 'darling’ in English.”

Pyro felt how blood rushed into his cheeks and utterly ashamed he pulled the blanket over his face. Of course the first thing he would ask would turn out to be something like this. Instead of some silly nickname, like he had always thought Medic was using for him in lieu of his real name, Medic had actually called him by sweet pet names this whole time. Meanwhile he had just called him Medic, maybe Doc once in a while.

He heard Medic chuckle and felt how he moved a little closer to him on the sofa. Medic shortly tugged at the blanket and only reluctantly Pyro exposed his face again.  
“I really didn’t know…”, Pyro muttered but Medic just chuckled once more.  
“In the same vein”, Medic picked up their conversation again,”you are my 'Geliebter’. It’s a bit old-fashioned if you use it like that, but it means something like 'my love’ or 'beloved’.”  
Pyro wanted to hide his face again but Medic already slipped his hands underneath the blanket and wrapped his arms around Pyro.

“Anything else you would like to know?”  
Pyro looked around the room, looked down to his shoulders that ever so slightly poked out on one side from his oversized pullover.  
“What’s the word for freckles?”, he finally asked.  
Pyro wanted to steer the whole thing towards something less embarrassing, at least for him, even if Medic seemed extremely delighted by his reaction. Before he got an answer though Medic planted soft kisses on his freckled cheeks and nose.  
“It’s 'Sommersprossen'”, Medic whispered against his skin.  
“'Sommer’ means summer, 'sprossen’ comes from 'sprießen’ and means 'to sprout’. Because lots of people appear to get freckles throughout the summer.”

Medic’s thumb gently traced along the scar on the side of his face now and their eyes met for a moment. Pyro still remembered the times he had flinched away from Medic’s touch. Even if he didn’t feel much, the scarred skin had lost most of its sensibility after it had suffered from heavy burns in his youth, he still for a long time had felt uncomfortable about someone getting close to it. It was something incredibly personal. A silent testament of his stupidity and something Pyro for a long time had accepted as a punishment for his carelessness. Medic however, as part of his profession, more than once had been forced to overstep Pyro’s personal boundaries for the sake of his health. It had been a constant struggle between the two. Slowly Pyro had gotten used to it though to a point he actually looked forward to it during his trips to the infirmary. The thought of Medic’s hands touching his bare body, of his gentle fingers tracing along parts of him no one else had been allowed to touch before had excited him. Now, years later, it was a soothing gesture. One of many that proved that, no matter how Pyro felt about himself, Medic didn’t mind nor care about his perceived imperfections.

Even if Pyro didn’t ask Medic knew very well what his next word would be.  
“It’s 'Narben’. In your specific case it’s 'Brandnarben’ because they were caused by a 'Brand’, a 'fire’.”  
Pyro nodded.  
“What would my name be? Do you have a special term for that too?”  
Medic rubbed his chin and furrowed his brows for a moment.  
“Well, Pyro is short for 'pyromaniac’. There is the German 'Pyromant’ or 'Pyromane’. However, I think in your case the word 'Feuerteufel’ should be more up your alley.”  
“What does it mean?”  
“Literally? 'Fire Devil’. It’s colloquial, but I think it sounds a lot more, hm, dramatic than just 'Pyromant’.”  
Pyro started to grin.  
“Yeah, I like that. Pretty badass.”

They went on like this for a while. Pyro would look around the room and pick up a thing that interested him and Medic would translate it for him. Sometimes Medic would add an explanation, sometimes he’d just tell him the German term. In some cases Pyro even tried to repeat what Medic told him. Even if Pyro wasn’t very successful he could see how thankful Medic was for his attempts, how excited he was to bring something so important to him closer to Pyro.

At one point, the fire in the chimney was by now barely a warm glimmer anymore, they had stopped talking. Instead they had cuddled up on the sofa again and watched how thick snowflakes fluttered down in front of their window. Pyro’s head was resting on Medic’s chest now. He listened to the steady beat of Medic’s heart, felt how Medic’s breast ever so slightly rose and fell with every breath he took. Meanwhile Medic’s hand had slipped underneath Pyro’s pullover and gently wandered up and down his back. It was a faint sensation, barely there, but still very pleasant. Medic was warm and the dim light made it difficult for Pyro to stay awake but there was a question that still lingered on his mind.

“There’s something I still want to ask.”  
He looked up from Medic’s chest and sat up again.  
“How do you tell someone that you like them?”   
Medic blinked a few times before he started to smile. He fixed his glasses and propped himself up on his arms.   
“Well, you could simply say 'Ich mag dich’, it’s the same as 'I like you’. Or you could say 'Ich hab dich gern’.”  
Pyro lowered his head and once more started nervously rubbing his neck.  
“And what if I want to tell them that I love them?”, he added, a little quieter than before.

Medic didn’t answer at first, something that worried Pyro a little. They quietly sat next to each other for a moment before Medic finally reached for Pyro’s chin and gently made him look up again. His hands cupped Pyro’s face, caressed Pyro’s cheeks with his thumbs while he looked at Pyro with a tender expression. Pyro returned his affectionate gaze with a smile and wrapped his arms around Medic’s waist. When Medic leaned down to him Pyro slowly closed his eyes.

Their lips nearly touched when Medic finally spoke again.  
“Ich liebe dich”, he whispered against Pyro’s lips before he sealed them with a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> I always enjoy it when bilingual characters actually correctly speak their mother tongue in stories.  
> While I prefer writing English myself it's always nice to sprinkle in some German, especially with a character like Medic.


End file.
